Texas troops leave Taji, Iraqis take over

During our embed with Texas National Guard troops in Iraq, Chronicle photographer Mayra Beltran and I spent several days at Camp Taji, getting a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse inside one of the last U.S.-run detention facilities guarded by members of Houston’s 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

PHOTOS BY MAYRA BELTRAN – HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Texas National Guard soldiers secure detainees in the recreation area as other soldiers conduct a routine search inside detainee housing containers.

Yesterday American forces handed over control of the prison to Iraqi authorities.

Most of the 800 Texas soldiers at Taji have been reassigned elsewhere in Iraq. They couldn’t wait to get out of Taji, where they lived in big warehouses with little privacy and worked 12-hour shifts near a burn pit located about 100 yards from the detention facility. They complained of migraines, breathing problems, coughs, sore throats, irritated eyes and skin rashes.

Now the burn pit and the detainees are the Iraqi government’s problem.

TAJI, Iraq — The U.S. military handed over control of a prison holding some 2,900 detainees to Iraqi authorities on Monday as the Americans move ahead with preparations for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Most of the Taji prison’s detainees are low and midlevel insurgents who were arrested by American troops, said Maj. Gen. David Quantock, commander of detainee operations. A small number have been convicted of crimes, he said.

Control of prisons is a sensitive issue for many Iraqis. Torture was widespread in Iraqi prisons under the regime for former dictator Saddam Hussein before his fall in the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. And the scandal following the release of photos showing American troops mistreating detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison sparked outrage across Iraq and the Arab world.

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Iraqi Justice Minister Dara Noureddin described the hand over as a step toward Iraqi sovereignty and as a way for Iraqis to overcome past prison abuses.

He said the Iraqi government seeks “for these prisons to be real correctional facilities, not places for vengeance and torture as they were under the ousted dictatorial regime.”

When we were there in January, Iraqi guards worked alongside Americans, preparing to take over. It would be interesting to visit Taji again in a few months to see how the transition is going. Will the Iraqis continue to allow family visitation? Work and educational programs? Cigarettes? How will the detainees respond to Iraqi guards in charge and vice-versa? Will the Red Cross continue reguar inspections?

But who knows what kind of access we’d get, if any.

Below are some more photos from our time at Taji with the Texas National Guard. We were not allowed to talk to detainees or show recognizable images of their faces.

Texas National Guard soldiers supervise Iraqi Correctional Officers as they search detainees in the internment facility at Camp Taji.

Detainees pace an enclosed yard for exercise during their recreation time in the internment facility at Camp Taji.

A detainee trims another detainee’s beard during recreation time at Camp Taji.

Detainees pray at Camp Taji.

Detainees sit quietly in prayer at Camp Taji. Each detainee is allowed to have a prayer mat and Quran.